Zinc Corp., Horsehead Have Formed Group To Fund Community Projects

January 11, 1990|by MICHAEL FABEY, The Morning Call

Under the gun from Palmerton to pay up to $350,000 in waste-hauling fees, Horsehead Resources Development Co. and the Zinc Corporation of America have formed a non-profit organization that will give about $250,000 annually to projects for improving the community and its residents, company officials announced yesterday.

Officials from both companies said the formation in December of the non-profit organization, Horsehead Community Development Fund Inc., has nothing to do with Palmerton Borough Council's decision last week to bill Horsehead between $275,000 and $350,000 annually to haul hazardous waste through the borough.

"It's ironic, but it's just a coincidence," Zinc Corp. spokesman William Bechdolt said yesterday.

Both companies have maintained they are exempt from the state hauling fee because Horsehead runs a recycling operation. Recyclers do not have to pay the hauling fee, according to state regulations.

While state Department of Environmental Resources officials said DER lists Horsehead as a recycler, DER sent the borough a letter saying it would be up to Palmerton to decide whether to bill the company.

The companies had been working on forming the non-profit group for about two years, before the state enacted the hauling fee regulations in December 1988, Bechdolt said.

Borough officials said yesterday that Palmerton still will bill Horsehead.

"Oh yes, definitely," Councilwoman Louise Calvin said last night. Calvin was the council member who proposed that the borough bill the company.

Company officials said it is likely they will not pay the fee. If the borough bills Horsehead and the company refuses to pay, Palmerton will have to take the company to court.

Even if they are billed, the companies will still operate the non-profit organization, Horsehead Resources spokesman John Groover said.

The money from the organization will be managed by a board of directors from the community, who have already been named by the company but will not be identified until a later date, Bechdolt said.

The funds will be used to beautify and restore areas in and around Palmerton, help elderly or sick residents, and enhance education or recreation in the community, the companies announced.

There is some money in the fund now, but officials would not say how much has been collected.